Rosie hid Finkoo’s mundane shoe with Mo, then hung out with Finkoo and Daisy for the rest of the morning. Cyl had contemplated the eirshale boulder most of the night. She explained to Dub that she wanted to create her own Goa brother, not just turn it over to the Goa who traditionally got assigned that task. Dub supported that—“This is a gift for you.” She decided that she would do it herself, though she realized she’d have to get her mother’s help. Dub and Cyl discussed the relative merits of crafting large Goa, compared to multiple smaller Goa. Dub suggested, without actually taking the stance fully, that it would probably be better to make more than one, if she could. Since that would expand the Goa’s numbers, as they had been trying to do.
Finkoo worked on a clockwork necklace. Lark stopped by Cyl’s shop to get Cyl to chisel a 4’ pedestal for Kali’s 2.5’ dragon mother symbol. GB spent the night over at Ivy’s place so that they could have their traditional Elumis morning breakfast together.
Beer Forge
Ivy had put the painting from Connor up on the wall in the Forge. The party gathered around the reserved table in the Beer Forge and chatted. They debated what to do and agreed on heading to see First, and the other new goa, to investigate what they had been up to.
Travelling
As they left the city, they passed through the Guildsman’s District and saw the Guild Hall construction going quickly. The party exited the city and reached the mountainous area north of the city. They began looking for the symbol of the goa mentioned.
GB even skywrote a message that went unanswered. Mari flew up as a bird and found a symbol etched into the face of the mountain. She flew over to it and found another about a mile away from the first. She returned and the party began trekking their way toward the first symbol. As they progressed, they realized that each symbol was the alchemical symbol of “Earth.” The path was hard, windy, and cold but not particularly dangerous.
As they continued, they found what seemed to be a discarded or disused camp. Not far beyond that, they found a carved doorway into the mountain with sculpted reliefs of agonized people and tortured faces. They appeared to be freshly carved, rather than ancient.
As they searched the camp, the party noticed a single goa standing roughly thirty feet up the path. The goa was dark, nearly black, in color and held a bow with an arrow notched but not drawn. They’re face was featureless, rather than a fully sculpted humanoid face. As the party entered the cave entrance, the goa turned and walked away.
The curve of the tunnel yielded to an open space where Al stood, waiting. Drift globes lit the cavern well as Al greeted them and began leading them deeper inside. Nothing, but the entrance way had carvings and, when asked, Al agreed with GB’s guess that it was meant as an advertisement for people that were suffering or seeking a way for a new life.
Al revealed hundreds of goa working inside the cavern. They did not share the lack of features, or color, of the sentry goa the party had seen outside. All of them had unique features, but all were humanoid and none were carved. They had all been turned.
Al showed the party a distillery, which was crafting daydream, but a newer, more refined version of it. Al explained that the refined versions were to give them an opportunity to alter the physical characteristics of the resulting goa. He informed the group that the other goa they had turned were not connected in the way that the original five had been. Steeple was the last that connected.
Al said that the people that volunteered to turn into goa had all done so either after they were told what the transition would mean, or after they had already overdosed and could not be brought back. Al said that the goa were also beginning to learn crafting, smelting and smithing, etc. Cyl investigated the tools and noticed that the equipment had all different makers marks, and one had the mark scratched off. The party wasn’t able to determine what mark had been scratched off.
Al continued leading them into the bright smithing, jewelry, and gem cutting area. The mine continued through the other side of the mountain to a cliff face. Al said that they planned on building the cliff face up with the discarded rock from their mining efforts. Their eventual plan was to have a minecart operation that would let them easily and quickly get down toward Cinderhaven on that side of the mountain.
Al talked with the party more, revealing that one of the goa had come out as a berserker and attacked the other goa. They had ended up getting rid of him because of it. Al also said that Wit believed she had figured out how to allow the converted goa to remember their past lives.
Unfortunately, Al also gave the party information that concerned them greatly. Al expressed that the turned goa believed that all sentient life would eventually become goa. They did not intend to force this to happen, but their eternal life made it seem inevitable. They viewed flesh-persons as their version of eirshale. Al would also not agree that the Bonded Goa would never murder everyone in order to get them to become goa.
Al also informed the party that the Bonded Goa would allow the group to talk to other turned goa, in order to understand them better. Al admitted openly that they were hiding things from the party and that the party was not welcome to speak with those that had not yet been turned. The party left on decent terms with the turned goa, but with many concerns for the future.
Cyl’s Studio
The party went back to town and convened at Cyl’s studio. They discussed what to do next, unwinding as Cyl mixed paint to calm her nerves. The party decided to go to the Chalice to work off some of their stress and frustrations.
The Chalice (Dawn District)
Employees directed the party to the combatants’ entrance and, as usual, the party stumbled over figuring out what to call themselves. Several names were suggested, but they finally settled on calling themselves “The Bad Attitudes”. They fought a Salt Golem in their match and came out victorious. During their match however, the crowd morphed their name into “The Badditudes”.
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